A Pair Of Docks Part 20

Mantis raked his hand through his hair.

"I vote for different docks. Why else would there be two?" said Dr. Ford in an excited tone, forgetting his ban on speaking.

Clearly, he's overcome any concerns about my safety, thought Abbey darkly.

Mantis and Simon both glared at the little man.

"Whose side are you on, Ford?" said Simon.

Dr. Ford rearranged his face into a look of wide-eyed innocence. "Just trying to move things along and get Abbey back to us safely."

"Paul has a point," murmured Mantis. "Try a dock each."

Abbey gingerly stepped out onto the silvered wooden planks. The docks almost vibrated with life, pulling her in all directions and yet nowhere. She remained rooted to the spot, her wet sneakers caked with dirt and mud encasing her icy feet. Jake stepped onto the second dock.

"I'm going. It's taking me," he yelled. His edges were blurred.

"I'm not," Abbey yelled back.

"Grab her hand," Mantis hollered. "The docks are close enough."

Jake extended his large paw to Abbey. She slipped her own into it. She'd never held hands with a boy before and the surge of energy nearly knocked her off her feet. The familiar pull and whoosh surrounded her, like the torrent of a powerful river that couldn't be escaped.

"I have one more question," Jake yelled. "How do we get back?"

But the forest had already been replaced by the tumble and blur of black. They were thrust, blinking and scattered, onto the causeway of Simon's future. Floodlights lit the walkway where the s.h.i.+ps were moored. Although it was night, a few people still roved up and down the causeway, loading and unloading cargo, checking guy ropes, and heading toward the mirrored building, wheeling their luggage behind them. s.h.i.+ps ascended into and descended from the starry sky. It was like an airport at night, sleepier than by day, but never really asleep.

Abbey looked down. They'd landed on two square dock-like platforms situated on a wide portion of the causeway where the main commercial path branched off the central one. Abbey recalled seeing the docks before, walking past them, and glancing at them in semi-curiosity. Each had a wooden bench on its back edge and, like the path of stones, looked like street art, a refuge for meditation and relaxation.

Abbey felt a strong urge to step off the docks onto the safety and solidity of the causeway. Jake must have felt the same way, for he stepped forward at the same time. Her hand remained clutched in his for a fraction of a second and then both of them let go. She experienced a vague sense of loss.

"Well, it works I guess. Shall we head back?" Jake said.

"Why are you doing this, Jake? Is Mantis paying you?"

Jake shoved his hands in his jean pockets. "Look, I know this probably looks bad. I've been invited to train with some of the farm teams for the major leagues at a camp this summer. It's a big deal. But my parents can't afford it. They can't even afford to let me not work in the restaurant for the summer. Mantis is going to take care of all of that and pay my way. It's my shot at the majors, and my shot at getting my parents out from under their restaurant. Mantis holds the mortgage on the restaurant and, since the economic downturn, it's not doing too well. It's all they have, and I have a younger brother and sisters. Mantis and I have a contract that says if I complete this for him, he'll rip up the mortgage and pay for my training camp. And besides, he told me we're helping these people. I wouldn't have agreed if I didn't think I was helping. I've met with that Caleb guy a couple of times now and he seems like a stand-up kind of guy."

Abbey studied Jake. He appeared so earnest, right down to his long black eyelashes and the dark brown hair that curled around his ears. She wondered if he was dying already, if she should tell him to see a doctor. Later. Maybe.

"So, you're not planning to kill Simon or Caleb?"

"What? Who? No! I'm not planning to kill anyone."

"We saw your emails-to Mantis-and we thought... You said in one of your emails that someone's not too happy about hurting Sinclair or something like that. What did that mean?"

Jake dropped his gaze to his tattered Nikes. "As part of his end of the deal, Caleb agreed to sabotage some guy named Sinclair's computer program. n.o.body will get hurt. And this Sinclair guy is rich already. It won't really hurt him. Caleb wasn't too happy about it, but he agreed to do it."

The pieces of the emails shuffled into place for Abbey. Mantis had made a deal to move Caleb's people to this new future. Caleb, in exchange, would find a way to prevent Simon's future company from developing its new operating system, probably giving Salvador Systems a compet.i.tive advantage. The move to the new future was to take place after the Holding the Light event, which apparently happened that evening. It all made reasonable sense.

She couldn't believe Caleb had agreed to do something that would hurt Simon, even if it was just his company. He must feel like he had no other choice. Mantis had turned one of her brothers against the other. She pictured her adult brothers alone and angry with each other. Somehow they seemed more vulnerable as men than as boys. Maybe Simon would be okay with it-if he knew why Caleb had done it. Maybe. She gulped back a sob and turned to Jake. "But what were you doing here in this future? We saw you."

"This is Mantis's future. I had to come here to make sure I knew what it looked like so I could be sure it was the right place to bring Caleb and his people. And I have to be able to picture the future, and know whose future it is to go there."

"But how did you know to go looking for the future Caleb? Or that he needed your help?"

"I don't know. That was before I came into this, and Mantis doesn't tell me much. He just told me about Caleb's future and I was able to go there. Now we'd better get back or Mantis is going to start freaking."

"Fine," said Abbey. "How do you think we do that?"

"I dunno. Same way? Go back out onto the docks and hold hands?"

"I guess." Abbey was mortified to find that her heart had started to beat a little faster at the thought of holding Jake's hand again. Or perhaps it was just at the thought of traveling back over the docks.

Mark's head pounded and his mouth still felt sour from vomit. He counted to ninety by threes, over and over again, driving his wooden spear deeper into the dirt. He watched Simon, Mantis, and Dr. Ford mill around the docks waiting for Abbey and Jake to return, their body movements jerky and quick. They were giving each other a wide berth and n.o.body was speaking. They all just watched the docks. The full moon cast a gla.s.sy river of white on the beaver pond. All that was needed was the group of people dressed in white, the people he'd already seen this evening who were evidently expected to arrive at any minute, and this would be the precise image of his future. The future in which he killed Abbey and then disappeared with Dr. Ford.

Forty-five...forty-eight...fifty-one...fifty-four...

At least fifteen minutes had elapsed since Jake and Abbey had departed, and Mantis and Simon's pacing had become faster and more erratic. They both had their mouths pulled into thin white lines. Anger? Or worry? Mark fingered the laminated yellow cards he still had in his pocket from the previous day. Dr. Ford, by contrast, had taken a seat on a large rock and wore an expression that reminded Mark of Ocean in pursuit of a bird. (Mark had decided Dr. Ford was definitely not a trusted adult.) Fifty-seven...sixty...sixty-three...sixty-six...

"We should hold hands before we step out on the docks so I don't accidentally leave you behind," said Jake.

She took his proffered hand, feeling the brush of skin against skin, and together they stepped slowly onto the docks. The whoosh and darkness didn't startle Abbey anymore. But the wind on her skin was wrong. Instead of the cool dampness of the forest, it was the warm dryness of a blow dryer. She opened her eyes to see the Madrona tree. They were in the atrium at Livingstone Labs, standing on two square slabs of stone embedded in the garden. It was night here, too, like all the futures operated with the same rise and fall of the sun. A few security lights illuminated the halls of the laboratory, but the desks and the halls were empty.

"Where are we?" Jake sputtered. The hand holding Abbey's tightened its squeeze.

"We're in my future now." She dropped his hand and stepped off the stone slab. "Did you and Mantis have any idea how the docks work before you embarked on this ridiculous scheme? We could have to cycle through any number of futures before we get back. If we get back. The combinations and permutations of possible futures could be endless."

"No," said Jake, a note of panic entering his voice. "We just thought it would go back and forth."

Typical, thought Abbey. "Well, the fact that out of all the possibilities, the docks have taken us to the only two other futures I've been to"-except Nowhere, Abbey thought-"suggests that it's limited somehow, so maybe they'll take us back to the forest now."

They joined hands again and stepped back onto the stone docks. The rush of wind and darkness enveloped Abbey, and when her eyes could register light again, the faint green mist of Nowhere and the witches around the cauldron in the distance didn't surprise her. The docks in Nowhere were ornate and edged with carved symbols and inscriptions.

Jake dropped her hand, stepped off the dock, and spun around, his mouth open and eyes bulging.

"It's okay," she said. "This is Nowhere. Hopefully our last station stop before the forest. I'll explain later." A couple of the witches at the fire had noticed them Abbey and Jake and had started to walk toward them. Again, Abbey wondered if Jake could transport the witches, too. And if the witches knew that Jake was their potential way out of Nowhere.

"Get back on the dock," she said. "We need to get out of here." They leapt onto the docks, clasped hands, and were pulled away before the witches could draw near.

The forest came back into focus this time, and Abbey nearly sank to the dock in relief. Jake's hand, slick with sweat, slipped out of hers. Simon had taken up a post right next to the dock and grabbed at her in relief, pulling her into an awkward embrace.

The relief was short-lived. When Abbey looked up, she saw that Mantis had Dr. Ford in a stranglehold on the ground. Mantis's silver locks hung over his eyes and his face was crimson. Mark stood watching, still holding his sharpened stick. Abbey pushed Simon away in horror, but then realized that although Dr. Ford's face was red, he was still making indignant sputters, and Mantis didn't appear to be applying sufficient pressure to kill the man.

Simon pursed his lips in disgust. "Mantis got stressed out when you didn't come back right away. Dr. Ford made some snide remarks about him not knowing what he's doing. They got into an argument. It degenerated into name-calling. Mark and I decided to let them work it out. I'm not even sure if we know whose side we're on right now. I was afraid that if we hurt Mantis, he might do something to you, or we might not get you back."

When Mantis saw Jake and Abbey, he released Dr. Ford immediately and stood, brus.h.i.+ng the dust from his dark overcoat and tucking stray strands of hair behind his ears.

"It worked, then?" he said jubilantly. "Dr. Ford and I were just having a little discussion about manners."

"There were a few glitches," muttered Jake, with a sullen expression. "But yeah, it worked."

"Hack," said Dr. Ford, as he removed the bracken from his backside.

"And I see our clients approach," exclaimed Mantis, ignoring Dr. Ford. A column of white figures could be seen moving along the docks beside the pond, Caleb in the lead. About fifty men, women, children, and babies, with packs of supplies and crossbows, rounded the corner. Caleb raised his eyebrows when he spotted Abbey, Simon, Mark, and Dr. Ford, but he said nothing until his group a.s.sembled.

"We're ready for you," said Mantis.

Caleb nodded and started to address the crowd, his voice rising and falling with the practice of someone used to convincing people of his thinking, the tenor of it weaving a spell over all of them. "This is the magic I have spoken of. The docks that will take us to a new place-to a safe haven where I hope we can flourish. Thank you for volunteering to be the first to try out the new future. If we judge it to be a good place, I'll come back and guide the rest of our people to the new land." In his cloak of white, with the moonlight decorating his deep red hair, it occurred to Abbey that it was Caleb, not Jake, who looked like Moses.

Caleb s.h.i.+fted the tilt of his head slightly, so that he still seemed to be speaking to the group, but was looking into Abbey's eyes. "A few of you are old enough to remember the bomb, or what we think was a bomb. The bomb that shook the world and made people, animals, and plants all over the earth vanish. We didn't know what happened. Our scientists said they became like dark matter in the universe...ma.s.s that was there but not. And now-because our planet lost too much carbon dioxide from its atmosphere-our summers grow colder, the glaciers advance, and we can no longer grow enough food to meet our needs. Tonight we are going to rejoin part of the world that split away and became a shadow to us, including our loved ones." Caleb's glance s.h.i.+fted to Simon. "So, with our prayers for safe pa.s.sage complete, let us proceed. I will go with the first group and I will come back for the last. This group of fifty will be the pilot group. If we find safe haven in this new future, I will return for the rest of our people."

There was a smattering of applause from the other people in white clothes. But many of them looked scared. Men s.h.i.+fted from foot to foot, fingering their crossbows, and women held babies more tightly and clenched the hands of small children.

"How many can you take at once?" Caleb asked Jake.

Jake's eyes widened and he hesitated. "Ten," he said finally. "They all have to fit on that dock and hold hands, and you'll have to hold hands with me. You stand on that dock. I stand on this one." Abbey almost snorted. Jake was guessing. They had no idea whether he could transport more than one person at a time, or if everyone had to be standing on the dock.

Typical, Abbey thought again. He was going on some sort of blind faith and male hubris, unwilling to admit he didn't know.

Then again, perhaps she was increasingly doing the same, and she was totally unsure how she felt about it. She was aware-had always been aware-that some of the greatest scientific minds in the world had to have gone on hunches and hubris. But she'd never been sure where the line was between methodical study and leaps into the unknown. If the last three days were any indicator, she was clearly quite capable of tossing the scientific method in the garbage.

Caleb counted off ten of the white-clad people and directed them onto the dock. He spoke to a man with a long gray beard who nodded and came to stand where Caleb had been.

Abbey was relieved that she couldn't see Rowan-the man who'd escorted her to the beaver pond a few days before-anywhere in the group. The people on the dock formed a human chain with Caleb on the end. Jake stepped onto the dock and took Caleb's hand. And then they were gone.

There was a ripple of dismay among the crowd. Mouths hung open and wives turned to husbands. An agitated murmur of voices rose into the air.

Mantis attempted some form of crowd control. "Now, now, people. This is what we expected. No need to be afraid. It'll be fine. Jake will be back shortly."

The group ignored Mantis and instead encircled the gray-bearded man and stood speaking in hushed tones.

Jake returned within five minutes this time. He must've just stepped on and off the docks quickly at each stop.

Abbey watched as the gray-bearded man counted off ten more people. There was less shock this time, and Jake was back within a few minutes again, looking paler than before. Dr. Ford stood beside Simon, Abbey, and Mark, and watched the proceedings with great interest.

"What did Caleb mean with all that bomb talk?" Simon asked Abbey in a low tone.

"I don't know. They're moving to your future I think..." She decided not to mention what Caleb might be doing in Simon's future. "That's where Jake and I went first. The future with the causeway and the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps." Abbey paused. "I did think our futures were a bit too different. How could those futures have even been on the same planet? Why would some people be traveling in s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps while others are living in the woods in tents?"

"Where did we see tents?"

"Here. I did. That night I came through on my own. Caleb said that each future lost something... What if the desert future lost the earth's atmosphere, which is why they need to live in the bubble. And this future lost carbon dioxide. And why were the three of us in totally different futures? It's like we split apart, too."

"But who could, or would, split the world apart?"

Abbey's gaze wandered to Mantis, and then to Dr. Ford. "I don't know."

The transfers went smoothly, but Abbey watched in turmoil. The map in Mantis's car with the BP and the X's was beginning to fester in her mind. What could the X's be? Why was Mantis so interested in helping Caleb? Was it really just so Salvador Systems would have a compet.i.tive advantage in the future? In 2036, Mantis would be almost ninety. Why would he even care?

Abbey noted that on the latest transfer Jake returned with a red welt on his cheek. He'd started to look more and more unnerved. Twenty people now remained to be transferred, and Caleb should be coming back with Jake the next time for the last group of people.

The second-to-last group stood on the dock and disappeared with Jake.

"I don't get it though," Abbey murmured to Dr. Ford. "Can people just move from one future to the other? Is that allowed?" It was all getting so confusing.

"Of course," said Dr. Ford. "The docks wouldn't have been created if that wasn't allowed."

"Dr. Ford, how much of what you know about the stones is just guessing?"

Dr. Ford drew himself up. "I can a.s.sure you, young lady, that after years of studying the ancient texts, I'm the most knowledgeable person around about the workings of the stones. n.o.body has taken an interest in the stones for years, except Mantis of course, and now all of a sudden there's a big rush and all of you young people seem to think you know better than me. You and that Andrews fellow."

"Wait-what did you say?" Abbey said. "Andrews fellow? You mean Russell Andrews?"

Dr. Ford's reply was cut off by the reappearance of Caleb and Jake on the docks. Both were bloodied around the face from scratches, and crouched in a fighting stance. Jake had a black eye. Abbey left Dr. Ford and ran toward her brother. Simon was just behind her.

Caleb went to rea.s.sure the remaining group of ten. "It's all fine. The future we're going to is at peace. Jake and I just had to transfer back through another future. It's only on the return trip. It won't affect you. Let's go." The final group of ten began to shuffle toward the dock.

"I don't know," muttered Jake to Mantis. "It's getting bad in that green mist place. They've started waiting for me, and the last two times they grabbed at me. I don't know if I can make it back on my own next time."

The smile Mantis had been wearing until this point slipped slightly. "Well, you're going to have to try, my boy. There's no payment for a job only half done."

Jake scowled but remained by the dock. "What happens if I don't come back? Who's coming looking for me?"

"That is one of the risks of your task. As long as I somehow get proof you've completed the a.s.signment, I'll provide your parents with the payment."

The final group had now joined hands on the dock and Caleb was about to join them. He turned to Abbey and Simon. An etching of sadness surrounded his eyes. "I still don't completely understand how these paradoxes work, but I don't want anything you've seen tonight to endanger either of you. Go home immediately." He looked at them intently like he wanted to say more, but Mantis had moved to within earshot.

Jake glowered by the docks but nonetheless waited.

Caleb lowered his voice. "I've changed my mind about what I said before. You need to look for something you've lost by the stones. The living ones."

"What?" Abbey said.

Two arrows suddenly whistled out of the trees and landed with a splash in the pond. One of them grazed Abbey's hair and she screamed. The group on the dock emitted various screeches and dropped to their knees.

Two bearded men emerged from the trees, crossbows in hand, followed by the man with the clawed hand and half-burned face. The men who had chased her in the woods yesterday, the men who had planned to kill Caleb. Rowan pulled up the rear. "Traitor!" the clawed man howled. "How dare you take our people? How do we know they're even still alive? Witchcraft! You should all be burned at the stake. The Light must be killed!" More arrows were unleashed. One hit Mark in the foot, and he dropped to the ground with a squeal. Another struck Simon in the shoulder and he fell. Simon's cry of pain sliced through Abbey and she started to rush to him, but Caleb caught her arm and pulled her back. Mantis took an arrow to the groin and one to the chest and keeled over. The group on the dock huddled around their children; the men among them pulled out their own crossbows and began firing back. Caleb took out the first bearded man.

Abbey felt the fear rip through her arteries and capillaries. She'd almost forgotten about Mark's future. The future with blood and death. Abbey wondered vaguely if the younger Mark was now in the bushes, watching.

Mark cried out like an enraged animal and hurled his sharpened stick at the men like a javelin. It hurtled through the air with shocking speed and only narrowly missed the clawed man. Mark spun and s.n.a.t.c.hed Simon and Dr. Ford's sticks. An arrow from a man on the dock cut Rowan down. Mark unleashed a second stick. It hit the clawed man squarely between the eyes. A look of shock crossed the man's face before he dropped to the ground.

"That's a paradox!" yelled Dr. Ford, and he launched himself through the air to grab Mark.

Caleb unleashed an arrow that took out the final attacker. "Hold hands. Now!" Caleb yelled at the group on the dock, who all frantically grasped hands. Dr. Ford's weight unbalanced Mark, who had already pulled his arm back to throw his final javelin. Mark's watch fell to the ground and the third javelin flew wildly, toward the docks-heading straight for Abbey. Abbey saw Mark's look of horror, but her joints seemed stiff, and she realized in agonizing slow motion that she wasn't ducking quickly enough.